Printing



July 5, 1960 A. w. SIMPSON 2, 4

PRINTING Filed Jan. 21, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A-W- SiMpsc/v we? *mM IrvvaNTBR y 5, 1960 A. w. SIMPSON 2,943,566

- PRINTING Filed Jan. 21, 1958 g s s 2 IwvauTuR A. W. 55M Pso/v galley-in the open Positio "ands.

2,943,566; BRI I G Alfred William Simpson, London, England, assigp or to.

Rejafix Limited, London 'EnglandgnBritisli company Enchant-.21. 1958-.Smhn1id241 P r ty, nalisa n-Great an...23,135

3 Claims. or. 101 195 This: invention relates to methods of, and machines for,

spaced; ink lines or, bands, which may be in different colours. I l I According to. one aspect of the invention there i-s pro-' vided a method of simultaneously printing closely spaced bands oialines by means of'a number of printing elements characterised. byinkingthe elements while they are widely spaced from one another and then moving the elements close; tov one another beforeprmtingfiom them. I

According. to andthenaspect of the invention there is providedi'a printing machine comprising a pluralitypf printingelements-characterised inth'at 'the printing "ele from oneanothe'r while th'eysare being transferred betweenxan inking station and a printing station. Prefereach having; ink receiving edges, which edges; allhe amepla e-v mwahlen t s s emema ach printingielement isicarri'eds by an associated tube member and movable as one with it, the tubes being capable of sliding one withintheiother and carrying; stop means; for limiting'the, travel ofthe printing elements.

According to a. feature. of; the invention there; is; pro: i a p g ma h n mpr in alley, telea seoping, carrier shaft; mounted; in the galley said shaft comprising a; pluralityuof tubes slidable one within the when a p i ra itr of p n ing e em nt one ar by and; amia e s b s w t e h b o a d'sh f s id adm ns, lement in a j ds and a y from. -oth r al e is of a d shaft by sliding of s d t bes, each, said. pr n in element m r a rule ha ng a Printi ed e o ce v a d P sti edges n G mma, a d ma n fluther mprising cam operated means for moving sau' d rules from an open position, when said rules are at an inking station,

tion This machine mayfurther comprise anoifsetmernber'movable from an ink receiving station at which said printing edges print upon it, to a working station, at which it; may printupon a work-piece, the movement ofsaid offset member being synchronised with the movement of said rules so tbatnit is at the print-ireceivingstation when the. rulesgare at the. printing; station andat the working station when the rules are at the. inking station.

A -m hin ac r -h n e ion and th meth Qtrrin asht t w l o .examplewrtb reference to, the aocorupany drawings, in

ably-the printing-elements are in the form of printing 7 printing and is. concerned with methods of and machinescapable of printing on an article a plurality of" closely;

.ments; are mounted; to be,- movable 'toward'sand' away 2 Figures 3 and 4 are respectively an under-plan view and a side elevation of thetgalley with the rules in the closed position. I g L The machine is mounted on a horizontal base 10 and is driven by a motor 11 through a reducing gear box 12,-"

both mounted at one end of the base 10, and a crank arrangement comprising a crank 19 and a connecting rod 20 as will be hereinafter described. l

Near the other end ofthe base 10, and 'on opposi te' sides thereof area pair of bearings which carry a"ro s's shaft 14 on which is pivotally mounted the lower end of a swinging frame 15 that ca'nbe swung up and down toward and away from the base 16. A pair of 16 are jointed to the connecting rod 20 and are'pivoted in" brackets 17 immediately behind the bearings. The 16 extend up behind the swinging frame '15 and'sub stantially parallel thereto. The links 16 are not as long as the frame 15 and, at their upper ends, they have pivoted to them a pair of arms 18 which extend past the frame 15 one on either side thereof. The crank 19 and connecting rod 20 are so arranged that on rotation of the crank 19', the links will cause the frame to swing up and down between an inking station and a printing station as willbe described.

The arms 18 are pivoted to the sides of the firame l'i where they pass it, the arrangement being such that when" the swinging frame 15 is brought down forwardly about shaft 14 toward the machine base 10, the links also, swing down forwardly behind the swinging frame, while the forwardly extending arms 18 move angularly with respect to the frame 15. Near the top of the swinging frame 15 an inking drum 21 is carried on a horizontal close position, when said rules are at a printing stahe d sdib d ywar o I spindle 21d journalled in the sides of the frame one. end, the spindle 21a projects beyond theframe side and bears outside it a small gear wheel 22 that meshg with atoothed sector 23 integral with the arn 1 .1 8 o n that side. The sector 23 is generated about aceutre': coincident with the axis of the'pivotal connection tween the arms 18 and the frame 15', and, when the 15 is'swung down, the angular movement of the. sector: bearing arm 18 with respect thereto causesvthe inking drum 21 to rotate. a On the front of the swinging frame 15 that is to say the part that is underneath when the frame is swung down, there is screwed a galley 24 which lies in front of and below the inking drum 21. Detachably mountedon the frame. 15 on opposite sides of the'front of the galley 24. are. two. parallel guide surfaces or runners 25 face forwardly away from the swinging frame 15 and extend up more or less parallel thereto except at the top 25a where they turn back toward the inking drum 21'. A secondhorizontal spindle 26 has, near its opposite ends a pair of wheels 27 to bear on and run along said guide surfaces 25, 'and on the spindle 26 between the wheels is an ink-transfer roller able material. The ends of thespindle 26 are rotatably carried in the hooked forward ends 29a of a pair of carrier rods 29 that are mounted on the outsides of the forwardly-extending arms 18' parallel thereto. The carrier rods 29 are slidable longitudinally along'the arms 18 and are spring-loaded,- whereby the wheels 27 onthe spindle 26 are kept in firm-contact withthe guide surfaces 25 on whichthey run. When the swinging frame .5. is brought down toward the machine base; 10 the ink transferroller .28 travels up from the bottom of; the galley 2,4 rotating during this mevernent,.and when it arrives at the topfof the. galley 24 the. turned back'upper portions 254; of. the guideqs urfaces 25 cause it tobe brought into ta t wit e nk as d m h M m m er ment takes place whenthe swinging frame 15 's raised.

a ted J ly 5,1195" 28 made of rubber or other shit- 'Mounted in the side walls of the galley 24 is a rod 30 on which is carried a telescopic shaft assembly 31 comprising an assembly of co-axial tubes 32, 33 and 34 of progressively increased diameter and decreasing length which surround the rod 30. Affixed to the base 35 of the galley is a printing rule 36 having an aperture therein through which the tubes pass. The tubes 32, 33, 34 carry. respectively at their other ends three movable printing rules 39, 38, 37 and are respectively movable as one with these rules. The tubes are arranged so that the longer tubes project at each end from the shorter tubes in which they are contained. Attached to each tube at its end remote from the galley 24 is a circlip 51 to prevent an inner tube passing wholly into the tube surrounding it and to prevent the outermost tube 34passing wholly through the bore in the wall of the galley in which it slides.

The four rules 36-39 have forwardly fixed straight edges 41 parallel to one another and all lying in the same plane. These edges 41 are disposed behind the inktransfer roller 28 and at right angles to the axis thereof so that as the roller 28 travels up the front of the galley 24, when the swinging frame is being brought down, it bears upon and transfers ink to the rule edges 41.

The outermost rule 39 is thickened in cross-section as shown in Figure 4. Screwed on to this rule 39 is a sheet metal connecting piece 42 having upstanding ends 43 to each of which springs 44 are attached for biassing the rules towards their most closed position. The rule 39 is also provided with a projection 45 which projects through an elongated slot 46 in the base 35 of the galley and is received in between the bifurcated ends of a lever 47. :This lever 47 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the shaft 14 and at its other end it carries a barrel-shaped cam-follower 48. A semi-circular cam 49 is fixed to the base and its cam edge is followed by the cam follower 48 during rotational movement of the frame 15. The cam edge of the cam 49 is so shaped that the lever is caused to move the lug member 45 and the outermost rule 39 attached thereto to the position most remote from the innermost fixed rule 36 when the frame is moved away from the base 10 in the anti-clockwise direction as in Figure 1. As the rule 39 is moved, it carries along the innermost tube 32 on which it is mounted. The circlip 51 on tube 32 abuts the end of, and carries along tube, 33; the circlip on tube 33 in turn abuts the end of tube 34 and carries the tube 34 along with it until the circlip on tube 34 abuts the side of the wall of the galley. The rules will now be equidistantly spaced about /2" apart. When, on the other hand, the frame is at or near its lowest point, i.e. when the rule of the machine. The metal plate 63 and frame 15 will therefore move in substantial synchronism.

The metal plate 63 carries at its rear end an ofiset printing pad 65 of rubber or other suitable material and moves so that, when the swinging frame 15 has been 'brought down, the pad 65 will be directly beneath the galley 24 and the rule edges 41, so that the rule edges print a series of four parallel lines on the pad.

Also fixed to the base 10 are two upstanding support members 66 which are disposed on either side of the metal plate 63 and near that edge of the offset printing pad 65 nearest the swinging frame when the pad is in its position most remote from said frame 15.

To vary the thickness of the printed bands rules having edges of difierent thickness can'be used, and the spacing of the lines or bands can be altered by inserting or removing'washers between the rules on the shaft which carries them. 1 I, t

It will be appreciated that numerous other modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, instead of the printing rules coming together after inking in a direction at right angles to their planes they could be arranged for relative movement in other ways; for example they could be moved parallel to their own planes from a staggered relationship to the side-by-side relationship, and be inked when in the staggered relationship by a single roller having different zones for difierent'coloured inks, or a number of rollers one for each rule, with the roller axis or axes substantially parallel to the planes of the rules.

As another variation, instead of rules inked by a rotating roller or rollers the print lines could be produced on the offset pad by the edges of rotating discs, which could each be inked by rotating in contact with a non-rotary inking pad. Again the working edges of 3 the discs could be adjusted, from a wide spacing at-inking to a narrow spacing for printing on the offset pad, by movement at right angles to the planes of the discs, or in other directions such as parallel to their planes. In certain cases the offset pad could be dispensed with v and the rules or discs used to print direct on to articles. The articles need not necessarily be cylindrical but could have other shapes.

I claim: 1. A printing machine comprising a galley, atelescoping carrier shaft mounted in the galley, said shaft edges are horizontal the cam is shaped to allow the rules to return to their most closed position under the influence of the springs 44. The positions of the rules are then determined by the shoulders or washers 52 on the other ends of tubes 32, 33, 34, making up the shaft 31 which limit the relative sliding movement of the tubes.

Both the inking drum 21 and the ink transfer roller 28 are formed with equidistantly spaced circumferential grooves 53 which divide the roller surface into separate lips 54 to receive ink. Each lip on the roller 28 meets with the corresponding lip on the ink transfer roller which lip in turn delivers ink on to one of the printing rules when the latter are in their spaced position. The lips, and so the rules, can be easily inked in different colours. Two links 58 are respectively pivoted intermediate their ends to the outsides of the brackets 17 on an axis different from that on which the links 16 are pivoted. The links 58 are slotted at one end, and the slots engage lateral lugs on the connecting rod 20, and at the other'ends thereofhave lugs 61. Each lug 61 engages in a slot in a substantially horizontal slotted link 62 the other end of which is also slotted and is engaged by a lateral lug on a horizontal metal plate 63. This plate 63 can slide upon comprising a plurality of tubes slidable one within the other, a plurality of printing elements one carried by and movable as one with each tube of said shaft, said printing elements being adjustable towards and away from each other along the axis of said shaft by sliding of said tubes, each of said printing elements comprising a rule having a printing edge for receiving ink, said printing edges being co-planar, said machine further comprising cam operated means for moving said rules from an open position, when said rules are at an inkhorizontal guides 64 which are attached to the base 10 ing station, to a closed position, when said rules are at a printing station.

2. A printing machine as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an offset member movable from an ink receiving station at which said printing edges print upon it, to a working station, at which it may print upon a work-piece, the movement of said offset member being synchronised with the movement of said rules so that it isat the print receiving-station when the rules are at the printing station and at the working station when the rules are at the inking sation.

3. A printing machine comprising a plurality'of printing elements, each said element having a printing surface'and said printing'surfaces' lying in the same plane; a plurality of tube memberseach said tube member being connected at one end with an associated printing element; said tubes being mounted for sliding- 'movement one the other and said printing elements are movable transversely with said. tubes towards and away from each other with the printing surfaces of the printing elements lying in the same plane, while said elements are being transferred between an inking position and a printing position; said machine further comprising stop means on each of said tubes for limiting the travel of said tube members in the associated printing elements.

References Cited infche file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

